Help identify please

[soggy]

Not sure if this is the correct place to ask these questions (moderatore please feel free to re-direct)
The following pictures are ones that I took today of a gun that has spent the last (that we know of )75 years stuck up in the attic of the mother-in-laws house. It may have been there much longer, but we know for sure that it was there in 1932 when she purchased the house.
I'll tell you what I was able to determine by looking and measuring.
The muzzle is approx. 3/4" (.75 cal.?)
The lock has the word TOWER and just back fron the hammer is the number 17 . There are some small numbers on the opposite side around the breech area but the gun is too rusted to tell for sure what they are
There doesn't appear to be any sign of a bayonet lug, and the sights although crude seem to be original.
And last but not least I forgot to measure the length of the barrel . I can get my hands on the gun again if this is necessary.
Comments please:

 

[rabjr]

I'm sure others know better than me but that looks like a Brown Bess thats been converted to caplock.

 

[Stophel]

That gun was always percussion. Some mid 19th century English musket. Some of the Civil War people could probably tell you the exact pattern.

 

[fluggies4]

It's possible that it has been made up using old parts from other guns. I don't recognize it as a specific pattern, although the lock is similar to an Ausrtian or Prussian type.
The trigger looks too far back on the stock to be functional, it seems. Does the lock work OK?

 

[Okwaho]

I believe this gun is a "Sergeants of the Line Carbine",Pattern 1839 with a overall length of 49" and a 39" barrel in 0.73 calibre.The earliest production used lock plates converted frm flintlock but by the 1840's new lock plates were being used,,{"The Rifle Shoppe" catalogue P.55} It is similar to the Pattern 1842 but with the barrel held with pins,sling swivels,and a new land pattern sideplate.The Pattern 1842 had a rear sight{missing on the 1839's} so this gun's rear sight is probably an arsenal addition or the gun is a very late Pattern 1839.
"British Military Longarms 1815-1865" by D.W. Bailey. PP.36-37
Tom Patton

 

[fluggies4]

Nope...definitely not a British pattern...the furniture is wrong, the lock is wrong, the bolster is wrong, the stock is wrong...could be a copy made in some former british-held territory?

 

[RC]

Identify? okay looks like halftails new smoothbore! he was lookin fer one an aknowin how close you two are..i'm sure you'll do the right thing..!................... :rotf:

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

I think Tom is close but not quite on the right trail. The triggerguard is close to British but the sideplate is more French in style? The muzzle cap is questionable as is the buttplate but the sling swivels appear to be English in style. It is odd... Are there any markings on the lock and the breach of the barrel? The bolster is very confusing in shape. You have me scratching my head, maybe it is one of the gun recently imported from Nepal - similar to standard English weapons but not quite the same?

 

[arquebus]

OK, ready for another opinion?!! If the lock is marker 'TOWER' then we can be 99% sure that the lock is English. However, as others have said the stock & furniture don't look English. Also, judging by the way the lockplate mates with the bolster I'd say it's a parts gun.
Going by the appearance of the rear sight, ramrod entry thimble, & other furniture I'm inclined to suspect it is Germanic in origin, most likely a Lorenz from Austria. I'll also bet that the barrel was bored out to smoothbore, as were so many surplus CW-era muskets. Most Lorenz muskets were .54 caliber, with some modified to .58 however some earlier models were .70 caliber.

 

[soggy]

Thanks for the input so far fellars; I'll try and expand on your observations:
It's definetly an original percussion and not a conversion from a flintlock (I've seen and held one of those)
It is quite possible that it may have been made up from other old parts. People in this area were very frugal and would improvise whenever possible.I think there may be something wrong with the lock. I tried to cock it a couple of times but it would not catch, so I didn't try any more. If it were mine I might have fiddled around with it a bit, but it has become the property of one of my brothers-in-law.
Sorry R/C but HalfTail hasen't even seen this one. (still a good answer though :rotf: )
There were no other markings on the lock or breach that I could see, but the gun is in very poor condition (rust)
One thing that I did not mention and I don't think it is possible to see in my photos is; there appears to be two place where wood has been inlet into the forstock. Maybe these were for springs that held barrel bands on? In photo #4 on the far left part of one inlet is visable, the other one was a little closer to the lock area (just visible in photo #2 on the right edge of the pic.)
Soggy

 

New issue for the RCMP at border crossings to keep us Americans on our side of the Border. :rotf:

Bill

 

[Slamfire]

New issue for the RCMP at border crossings to keep us Americans on our side of the Border. :rotf:

Bill

Even those who've waited 6 months for their passports? :surrender:

 

[soggy]

New issue for the RCMP at border crossings to keep us Americans on our side of the Border. :rotf:

Bill

Even those who've waited 6 months for their passports? :surrender:

:blah: :blah: :blah: :rotf:

 

[Halftail]

New issue for the RCMP at border crossings to keep us Americans on our side of the Border. :rotf:

Bill

Bill,
You musta been watching Canadian News the other day.Just announced from the Feds that we are just going to start arming Border Crossing Guards.That's funny to me being a Lobster fisherman 6 months of the year we are quite often watched by Armed "Fisheries Officers" as we unload our catch.
I say give em all unfunctional Firearms ... :grin:

 

[CrackStock]

There are a number of similarities to the 1839, but the lock has a tip to it at the rear; the lock looks shorter at the narrow front; the bolster looks wrong and the sideplate is off. I have been looking at a wide variety of guns, but not found it.

CS